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Charles D. Schewe Ph.D.  

Researcher on the Aging Process & Authority on Lifestage Marketing; Author of "Defining Markets, Defining Moments

Charles D. Schewe, professor of marketing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is a principal at Lifestage Matrix Marketing, a marketing research and consulting firm. His research interests lie in over 30 years of investigating the aging process and helping companies position themselves for an aging population. Using his trained expertise, he has spoken extensively and internationally to diverse groups of managers, companies, and industrial executive groups on various marketing topics.

Dr. Schewe received his Ph.D. in marketing from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University (1972) and his M.B.A. (1965) and B.A. (1964) from the University of Michigan. In 1979, he was a Fulbright-Hays Scholar at the University of Lund in Sweden, where he is frequently a visiting professor.

Professor Schewe has advised numerous companies on strategic planning, competitive intelligence, marketing research, customer service, and competitive positioning. His client engagements have included Spalding Sports Worldwide, International Business Machines, K-Mart, RJR Nabisco, and Procter & Gamble.

Over the last fifteen years, he has focused on understanding the marketing management implications of our aging population and assisted numerous manufacturers and retailers targeting the 50+ population. From this knowledge base, he has worked as executive consultant to Age Wave, a San Francisco-based consulting firm specializing in offering counsel on the implications of our changing demographics.

Author of over fifty articles in academic journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Business Horizons, and American Demographics, Dr. Schewe has been quoted and referred to widely. He is frequently featured in newspapers, magazines, and trade publications nationwide, and he is the author of Marketing: Principles and Strategies, The Portable MBA in Marketing, and Exploring the World of Business.

Speech Topics

Looking at Lifestages: Marketing to Generational Mindsets

Capturing the Hearts, Minds, and Pocketbooks of Today’s Younger Generations

The children of baby boomers, 72 million strong, are just now coming of age and evolving their own unique set of cohort values. In this talk, Dr. Schewe compares the values of boomer children with those of their baby boomer parents and with those of Generation X. The differences are dramatic. The impact of the terrorist strike on America is addressed along with the value changes that can be expected following the events of September 11, 2001.

Coming of Age: Meeting the Needs and Expectations of Older Customer

For your field to be relevant and consumer driven, your daily work must reflect the fact that each generation or cohort of customers brings a very different set of ideas and expectations to the marketplace. In order to better meet the needs and interests of your older adult customers, as well as each new group of consumers in the future, you must utilize strategies to help modify and diversify the services you provide using “generational cohorts” to identify each group’s values. Dr. Charles Schewe will examine the “coming of age” nature, events, and experiences inherent in each generation which define their unique values, wants, and desires. Through his in-depth analysis of attitudes and behaviors of the emerging older consumer, participants will gain the needed approaches to successfully comprehend, target, and serve these customers – now and in the future.

Age Really Matters: Marketing to Shared Experiences:

Individuals are bound together by coming of age over a similar time period. These generational individuals are highly influenced by the external events experienced between the ages of 17 and 23. After projecting the demographic changes in population and spending power over the next decade, Dr. Schewe contrasts baby boomer values (indulgent individualism, youth, health, and questioning everything) to those of their parents who experienced the Great Depression and World War II (feeling achievement in life, trust, and security). With the use of fascinating examples from his consulting engagements, Dr. Schewe provides practical, how-to marketing actions that will keep each cohort buying again and again.

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